Total Weekend Closure of Reading 14-15 October

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Not long enough for the amount of planning needed to get everything into place? It can't be done in a short time

[didcotdean]

I suspect NR^» (Network Rail - home page) won't pay whatever figure is needed for how ever nany pilots.

Anything on at Wembley Chiltern might be running an intensified service for?

Spurs are playing Bournemouth at Wembley on 14 October. Apart from a general capacity issue this means that the Oxford services after the game will have more stops than usual (Northolt, the Ruislips, Haddenham) meaning a journey from Marylebone to Oxford takes over an hour and a half.

There is also this note which covers the previously announced Sunday morning closure:

In connection with engineering work in the Reading area affecting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services, some Marylebone/Oxford services will convey additional carriages.

Maybe this could be continued for the rest of Sunday.

[ChrisB]

I think that is very likely

[Timmer]

Going to need quite a few additional carriages if everyone from Bristol/South Wales heading to London goes via Oxford.

[The Tall Controller]

All tickets valid for 14 or 15 October WILL be valid on either Friday 13 or Monday 16 October.

[TonyK]

If the Famous Five (as currently shown on the front page of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) front page) were planning to go to London next weekend, I don't think they would be very impressed with their journey involving a rail replacement bus. Again, why some of us questioned why GWR were going ahead with a major marketing campaign before the new trains were in service.

"Five Get Bustituted Again" - if Enid Blyton were alive today, she'd be turning in her grave.

[Jason]

For the Famous 5 - what a marvellous adventure with japes galore!

On a less rambunctious note, I am scheduled to work in London on the Saturday. I shall be interested(*) to find out how long the bus from Mortimer to Reading, followed by a bus from Reading to Slough and then the train into Paddington will take.

Technically they will get me from A to B and possibly even back to A again, but that's still not likely to be what I would expect for north of nine grand a year.

(*) probably not, really.

[ChrisB]

A season is paying for Monday-Friday travel, the weekends were always thrown in 'free' as part of the deal.

I respect the fact that many see themselves buying 5 out of 7 days travel though

[Timmer]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website reporting that Journey planners should be updated by Thursday 12th two days before the blockade. I'm sure that's a worse case scenario but still not good.

[Steve Bray]

I think it is borderline unacceptable that such a significant change is being made with little over a week's notice. It's certainly messing up my Mum's travel plans to travel from Gt Malvern to Windsor (and back) on the Saturday.

And will GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) be able to source a fleet of replacement buses and drivers at short notice?

[hassaanhc]

I would hope that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are planning blanket announcements about this closure next weekend across social media etc. Its not even on the front page of their website. If it wasn't for didcotdean flagging it up that it had been added to the reading2017 page we'd all be none the wiser.

Waiting until the revised times are uploaded to the journey planner before going public?

I am also struggling to find information about Christmas engineering work on their website, or indeed anything beyond 10 November. I looked on the main engineering work page. In the end I had to look on the National Rail website to get any information about the service over Christmas (although it was afterwards it occurred to me to use the journey planner )

[Ollie]

I would hope that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are planning blanket announcements about this closure next weekend across social media etc. Its not even on the front page of their website. If it wasn't for didcotdean flagging it up that it had been added to the reading2017 page we'd all be none the wiser.

Waiting until the revised times are uploaded to the journey planner before going public?

I am also struggling to find information about Christmas engineering work on their website, or indeed anything beyond 10 November. I looked on the main engineering work page. In the end I had to look on the National Rail website to get any information about the service over Christmas (although it was afterwards it occurred to me to use the journey planner )

Christmas page is here: www.gwr.com/christmas2017

[Electric train]

I think it is borderline unacceptable that such a significant change is being made with little over a week's notice. It's certainly messing up my Mum's travel plans to travel from Gt Malvern to Windsor (and back) on the Saturday.

And will GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) be able to source a fleet of replacement buses and drivers at short notice?

My guess is this weekend was always in the project Plan as a contingency for September, a Project on this scale would have at least one if not 2 contingencies in its programme.   Large blockades like these are not just dreamt up overnight, in an emergency putting a block in place or extending a possession can be done but this is bigger than that so would have been in the plan somewhere.

Perhaps its a breakdown in communication somewhere in the complex mix or NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Projects, NR Contractors, NR Route, NR Ops, ToC's n FoCs that this was going to happen, its quite easy for things to happen in silos

[TaplowGreen]

All tickets valid for 14 or 15 October WILL be valid on either Friday 13 or Monday 16 October.

I've changed my Sunday afternoon PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) reservation to the 0948 on Monday 16th - no charge.

[stuving]

My guess is this weekend was always in the project Plan as a contingency for September, a Project on this scale would have at least one if not 2 contingencies in its programme.   Large blockades like these are not just dreamt up overnight, in an emergency putting a block in place or extending a possession can be done but this is bigger than that so would have been in the plan somewhere.

Perhaps its a breakdown in communication somewhere in the complex mix or NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Projects, NR Contractors, NR Route, NR Ops, ToC's n FoCs that this was going to happen, its quite easy for things to happen in silos

It may have been planned as a contingency by the project, but it never made it into the EAS as a possession. Planned possessions can be cancelled at short notice, which leaves a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) with significant costs (no doubt repaid by NR) but screws up customers less than a new closure.

There always were five Sunday morning full closures at Reading  in the EAS (from 24 September to 22 October). After the evidently incomplete work over the weekend in September, two more shorter Sunday possessions were added. It looks as if progress in the first two of those has been so limited that now this new full weekend closure is needed. No doubt after that there will be further adaptations of the work plan - maybe the last Sunday morning possessions will be dropped ... or maybe there will be more, or longer, ones needed.